Signature Collection: Fire

First a little background on the Signature collection. Mattel has done series of action figures in retail like the DC Classics lines (which featured Booster Gold, Blue Beetles 2 & 3), Batman Unlimited, and a couple other DC lines. The Signature Collection was created for an exclusive Club line that you'd have to subscribe for on the Matty Toys website. They also have a Watchman line that's based on the comic book characters and their personal favorites the Masters of the Universe. The company obvious preference to the latter over their exclusive DCU line has been the bane to many DC fans since quality has been on the decline since the series began. Fan demanded characters were ignored or delayed and not everyone was happy with what they got.

I bring this up because it will be important later on in the review.

I got my Fire in the mail!

The long awaited JLI Fire action figure! Yea! I'm glad it came in a lot of packaging because it looked like the box it was mailed in was run over and someone tried to open it. Yeah it had "Fragile handle with care" on the box but it was still messed up. I haven't taken the figure out for display yet but it looks alright. Hopefully I can do a review with pictures sometime. Now I just need Tora (out in February) to complete my JLI of the most important members. The Fab five plus J'onn.

VERY Short Review: Batwoman #23

Everyone gets set for the upcoming showdown between Batwoman and Batman.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Batman and Nightwing #23

We've finally reached the end of the stages of grief arc. Will anything be accomplished? Will we have a set up that doesn't put Dick as the golden child? Will Bruce try to make amends with the family members he wrong? Well we know the last one isn't happening.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Red Hood and the Outlaws #23

SPOILERS AHEAD

They know Booster Gold!

The same friend of mine that borrowed my Batgirl runs of Cassandra and Stephanie introduced me to a friend of hers that's into comics. More Marvel than DC. He was surprised there was more than one Batgirl. When he asked who my favorite superheroes were I went down a list then said there was one but I doubted he knew who it was. I said Booster Gold and he nodded saying he knew who that was. After I expressed my disbelief my friend and him both said Boosters' slogan in union.

So in short other Batgirls aren't known to causal fans but Booster is. It's not shocking per se, I know Barbara is the one that's always pushed but it's also amazing that Booster is more known than something from the bat books.

Happy Birthday Jason

Apparently it was Tim Drake's birthday not too long ago. Ironically enough tomorrow is supposed to be Lian Harpers' birthday. Dicks' is supposed to be the first day of spring (which is where he got the Robin nickname from.) Did they ever say when Damians' was? Booster and Michelle are December 29. Anyway here's a picture former RHATO artist Kenneth Rocafort did of Robin Jason.

Female Superhero Clothes

I was going through Target today when I noticed they have women superhero sleep wear! T-shirts and pants! Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Batgirl (well that's what the label says but it looks like Batman's symbol) and Spider-Man! Most of the time they just have that stuff for men. Now if they could just get a bigger range of characters.

How would you define "Dark" or "Light" books?

Sally brought this up recently and I started thinking of lighthearted books. The ones that came to mind made me pause once I thought about them. Would most see the books I thought were light like I did? Take both Booster Gold series for example. In the first volume it never lingers too long in depressing scenarios but there still there. He's hated in his own time and has to flee to ensure he doesn't get the death penalty. Michelle dies, the guys creating his comic book are murdered, he's betrayed and loses everything. Sure there's fun stuff and hopeful notes but I wouldn't call this a strictly fun-loving title. It had dark moments as did the second series. I mean the Time Stealers straight up murdered a baby in it's crib! To say nothing of other events in the book.

So basically some "dark'" titles I've gotten.

Since I mentioned this a couple of times

I thought I might as well show the picture. This was after Michelle died and Lex Luthor sent a Booster robot after Superman to kill him off and make Booster look bad. To get his revenge Booster crashes the party Lex throws, tells him that he set Lex up to lose money and steals Lex's date in front of him. Remember this rivalry when you read the Supernova/Lex sections of 52. It makes it a thousand times better and that's saying something.

 

Angel Character One Shots: Gunn and Wesley

This time we focus on two long time members of Angel Investigations and friends--Gunn and Wesley.

Angel Character One Shots: Connor and Doyle

Once Angel comics started drawing readers in IDW decided to do some one shots on the characters that didn't have fangs. Let's start on the Irish characters. Some spoilers for the tv show and the comics.

What was the point of Rani?

Sure Giffin and DeMatteis didn't get a chance to explore the character much but with what we got it begs the question...was the character needed at all?

Bat Solicits and the "Offical" 52 Bat timeline

If I see any more solicits that catch my eye I'll write about them but for now this is it. A lot of Year Zero issues which I'm not looking forward to but I must admit there are some beautiful covers here. Some of them actually make me want to get the issues. I'm going to start with the timeline first which already gives me a headache. Needless to say there's a lot of information missing, some new retcons and other confusion.

Jason Todds' friendship with Roy Harper

Since I did a couple metas bits looking into the boys relationship with Kori I thought I should give this a look too.

Angel (IDW)

After the success of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer there was a spin off based on the life of her ex-boyfriend, the first vampire with a soul dubbed Angel. I loved that show and preferred it over Buffy. The themes of redemption were explored in interesting ways and the characters were great. While Buffy ended on a positive note that didn't really need expanding on Angel left on a more ambiguous note. Since all plans for more spin offs and movies fell through that left comics. The books weren't selling well at Darkhorse when IDW brought the rights for Angel. With Joss Whedon not giving approval for anyone touching what happened in the last episode the writers had to either write prior to those events or sometime in the future. The tales taking place in the future got the interest of readers eager to learn of the fates of the Fang Gang especially with Angel the Curse focusing on the title character. A number of mini series came out after this.

Tie ins

I used to get excited over tie ins but now I'm starting to dread them. I don't really count things like the Requiem issues since they didn't take over the story and the actual tie in sections were usually very brief. Or in the case of RHATO didn't happen in the story it's self but had a cover saying it did, which I didn't mind given the plot. Sometimes it makes sense like for the Booster Gold title to tie into JLGL, Flashpoint or have a mini series that connects to The Return of Bruce Wayne. They don't always have much in terms of the characters doing something that directly relates to main plot but we can get something enjoyable out of it. I liked the Flashpoint/Booster story and the TMVP mini series. I would have loved for Booster to do more for the actual plots of the main storylines for both of those but hey at least I enjoyed what I got.

More about the Batman titles tie ins under the cut.

What was going to happen in DOTF?

Apparently this was Snyders' original idea (likely the face thing with Jason happened too.) I'm not sure what their talking about with Arsenal, nothing happened that even hints at him getting a replacement limb. Not in this canon anyway.

Time is Broken with Batman

I have a sort of love/hate attachment to Batman where I generally like him except for when he's an ass to other characters. But even that is confusing since thanks to current canon confusion (mostly due to Batman Inc.) his actions are even more insane.

 

Timeline and other confusion that's popped up in the bat books. So SPOILERS for those although some are old.

RHATO Easter Eggs (Lobdell run)

Not all of them but the ones I like and/the ones some missed.